Dissonance - Book One

four

"What do you mean, it's not just Environettix that's after me?"

"The end of days is near, at least for the human race as we currently know it, and that can make people...rethink things."

"Rethink things?"

"In other words, things have gotten a little out of control. People who thought they were okay with the plan, aren't, and some people who didn't know about the plan are now privy to classified information."

"Again, what does that have to do with me?" I shake my head in confusion. I thought Environettix wanted me because I'm the last woman alive who can procreate, but what does that matter if they've figured out how to manufacture humans? None of it makes any sense.

"Well, to put it bluntly, you're the savior everyone has been looking for."

My jaw drops and my eyes open wide. How could I be anyone's savior? Until a week ago, I was just another teen trying to make my way through the torturous labyrinth of adolescence, also known as high school.

"There's a rift in Environettix," she continues. "Many of the employees that were intended to carry out the plan here on Earth, have decided they're not happy about being left behind. We call them The Sect. Unfortunately for you, they realize that if they have you, then they have some leverage."

"Why would having me give them leverage?"

"Because those that are escaping want you as well. Hermaphrozeene, the sterilization project that mom was unwittingly a part of, was intended to wear off after a certain amount of time, but research has recently shown that, without the anecdote to counteract the effects, those escaping will be unable to procreate. For a while now we've been searching for a genetic code and it turns out you are the keeper of that code. I was tasked with trying to copy it, but was unable to."

"So you're saying they want my DNA to try and replicate the anecdote that mom created?"

"That's correct."

"Why weren't you able to replicate it?" If there's one thing I know about my sister, it's that she is one of the smartest people I know, plus she's a mod, which means her intelligence is extremely heightened. She's also the daughter of one of the greatest minds the world has ever seen, according to Ivanov. Aveline studied my mother constantly, followed her around, asked her every question she could think of. It doesn't make sense that she wouldn't be able to figure out the science.

"It's not that I wasn't able to. Environettix thought I couldn't do it, but really I...wouldn't."

"Why not?"

She hesitates.

"Aveline, why didn't you give them the code?"

"So that I could find you." Her demeanor changes and the words she speaks are soft and gentle, like the sister I remember who would always look out for me, the sister who watched over me. She is doing it still, even when I thought she was dead, she never stopped protecting her kid sister.

"I knew that if they were desperate enough to find the code, then I could convince them to initiate the disasters sooner in order to activate your retrieval system. Triggering your fight or flight response would drive you out of hiding and back to us. I convinced them that you were the only way to find the genetic code necessary to create the anecdote."

I stop, unable to respond. I've been judging her, unfairly so. This whole time she's been explaining everything to me, I assumed she had turned into one of them: a heartless Environettix monster. But it turns out, she did it all for me. Yet at the same time, it's because of her, because of me, that the disasters were initiated early, which has resulted in the deaths of millions of people, including our parents. I know this was Environettix's plan all along, but I can't help but feel a tremendous amount of guilt for the role I unknowingly played in the annihilation of the human race.